Plant Potluck

Thursday night I went to a seed swap in town that also featured a talk by the owner of Front Yard Food, a local guy who grows food and builds and maintains garden beds for others. I learned so much! He basically spoke about permaculture, but in a way that was understandable and that seemed to flow naturally from what typical gardeners currently do. I’ve always been interested in permaculture but it seemed intimidating and also not really geared toward producing a lot of food. His talk made me feel differently.

I also felt like he validated a lot of my current practices, like very lazy composting, and also watering the garden as a whole and not worrying too much about specific plants’ water needs. Going forward, I’m going to try some of his suggestions for mixing plants together and thinking vertically. These will be more important than ever as I’m not going to have a lot of space to work with this year.

The swap was sponsored by Suburban Jungle, our local plant sharing/swapping outpost, which has been such a great source for me over the past couple years.

Yesterday, we had 80 degree weather, but it was a bit windy. So I spent some time outside adding diluted fertilizer to some existing potting soil and adding that to medium sized pots. Then I did the actual potting on in the kitchen. The tomatoes, most of the onions, and the marigolds moved on up. I was happy to not have to buy new potting soil or fertilizer. That soil probably has some other seeds in it that will sprout, but I can deal with that. In between I kicked the ball around with Rocco. Tom and F. took a ride down the Shore and the boys were in and out. It was peaceful.

My other seedlings are creeping thyme, marjoram, parsley, sage, thyme, and two kinds of lettuce. Outside already: potatoes, carrots, strawberries, oregano, and cilantro (about to bolt).

More and bigger pots meant I had to set up another grow light.

Earlier Saturday, I test drove a Kia Seltos. It was nice, but I don’t feel like rushing into a purchase just to beat stupid tariffs that may or may not actually be implemented. And I still don’t find having one car to be much of a hardship. Although, for instance, while I was at the seed swap, I was getting texts bugging me to come home b/c others needed the car. Maybe I need a bike for in-town trips.

Later Saturday, I went to Acme. Today, I’m going to focus on decluttering, baking bread, meal planning and maybe making gravy. There is s— everywhere, once again.

What we ate this week:

Sunday: I had pierogies, chicken nuggets and roasted carrots; others had soup or chicken pot pie (not homemade)

Monday: Chicken cutlets, homemade rice-a-roni, steamed broccoli

Tuesday: Fish patties, mashed potatoes, corn

Wednesday: Scrounge (I had quesadillas)

Thursday: Scrounge (I had tuna)

Friday: Pizza from Nick and Joe’s

Saturday: I was all alone so I ordered Thai food and it was glorious.

Lunches: Bought it one day ($8) and brought tuna another. The third, we had lunch provided to us.

Wins this week:

I used the Acme app when shopping yesterday and it gave me a lot of coupons as well as $6 off due to having accumulated points. All told it amounted to 23% off their regular prices. Which is essential because their baseline prices are quite high.

Last Sunday I hit up the Dollar Tree for two shampoos, conditioner, razors, cotton rounds, mouthwash, and mascara. Grand total: $12. The mascara is kind of beat but it gets the job done.

F. wanted some art supplies so we went to JoAnn Fabrics, which is going out of business, unfortunately, where she spent her own money and got stuff for cheap.

I can’t think of anything I bought this week other than food and toiletries. We need hand soap so I might go to the Refill Market today and fill up some of my own containers. I might also go to Sprouts for more produce.

We’ve been doing without Hulu, which is fine because on Netflix we have watched Escape at Dannemora, The Asunta Case and now just started Adolescence. I do miss being able to just channel surf and to watch Action News at 11. And once the Phillies season starts Tom’s going to want to watch the games. So maybe we’ll swap soon.

One month til the return of the farmers’ market!